Mistletoe.—The mistletoe grows upon the poplar tree, near the railway station at Taunton, and likewise at White-Lackington near Ilminster. I have not seen any upon the oak.
W. A. J.
Minor Notes.
Byron's "Siege of Corinth."—In the late Dr. Moir's Lectures on the Poetical Literature of the last Half Century, in commenting on Byron's Siege of Corinth he mentions "the glorious moonlight scene in which Francesca and Alp part for the last time, the one to die of a broken heart, the other to perish in his apostasy." From this he evidently considers that in this celebrated scene it is the still living form of Francesca that visits her lover; but though Lord Byron has, according to his frequent practice, left this unexplained, the whole passage seems to me to show that his intention was, that the visit should be considered as a supernatural one. Space will not allow of my bringing forward the proofs of this, but it can be easily verified by any one who reads the passage in question attentively. A singular mistake occurs in p. 8. of the work above quoted. Could any one have supposed that a poet, and a writer on poetical literature, should be ignorant of the best known poetical name of the last century? Yet Mr. Moir talks of "William" Pope. He might as well have talked of "Alexander" Shakspeare.
J. S. Warden.
Goldsmith's "Poetical Dictionary."—It has not been noticed by any of Goldsmith's biographers that, in addition to The Art of Poetry, in 2 vols. 12mo., 1762, published by Newbery, and The Beauties of the English Poets, in 2 vols. 12mo., 1767, published by Griffin, he also edited for Newbery an useful work entitled A Poetical Dictionary, or the Beauties of the English Poets alphabetically displayed, in 4 vols., 1761, 12mo. The Preface is evidently written by Goldsmith, and with his usual elegance and spirit, and the selection which follows is one of the best which has ever yet been made. It certainly deserves more notice than it seems hitherto to have received; and were it only that it contains Goldsmith's favourite passages, and may possibly have been a preparation and incentive to the composition of the Traveller and the Deserted Village, it ought not to be forgotten in the list of his compilations. In examining it I have frequently been struck by the appearance of lines and passages, and sometimes epithets, which were evidently in Goldsmith's mind when he wrote his two beautiful poems. Some, but not all, have been quoted as parallel passages by his editors.
James Crossley.
Corrupted Names.—In Vol. i., pp. 215. and 299., are some notes on the ordinary corruptions of Christian names. One came once in my way which, as the name corrupted is not by any means an ordinary one, may not have occurred to many of your readers. I was called on to baptize a child by the name Nucky: fortunately it is my practice to ascertain the sponsor's intention in the vestry, before proceeding to the font; and I was able, with much difficulty, to make out that the name meant was Ursula, of which Nucky was their ordinary corruption. Passing from names of persons to those of places, I would add two corruptions to those named in your current volume: Wiveliscombe, pronounced Willscombe;
Minehead, Minyard—both in Somerset; and Kenilworth, sometimes called Killingworth, in Warwickshire.